Nordic Article - OC Register

A LIVE WEAPON
A BITE OUT OF CRIME
NEWS FOCUS: Firm's private canine patrols are expensive but effective.

K-9 and Trainer Meet Ruger. German shepherd. Named after the gun. Understands foreign words for "search" and "bite" and "hold." Barely two hours into their 10-hour graveyard shift, a call crackles over the radio for Ruger and handler Erin Suggett: The alarms are blaring at the Lincoln-Mercury dealership on Beach Boulevard. Suggett smiles at the weapon wagging its tail in her back seat. "Ready to catch some bad guys? " she teases, and it's like a cattle prod applied to wet skin: Ruger leaps to his feet, barks ferociously and paces like a hungry tiger. "I get him a little juiced before we go on a call," Suggett explains. An average night with the local police canine unit? Not quite.

Suggett and Ruger work for Nordic Security, a private company in Costa Mesa, and one of a very few offering canine patrols to those willing to pay. Private security is a booming, $90 billion business in the United States - which is more than double the amount spent on public police forces, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis. In California, the number of private security guards has leaped 22 percent over the past five years, to 176,121. And the growth is expected to continue, even though the crime rate is at its lowest level in more than 30 years. In this competitive climate, Nordic's canine patrols offer property owners a special kind of cachet that plain old uniformed officers in marked cars can't match.

Suggett pulls up at the car dealership in Huntington Beach. On her utility belt, not far from her gun, is something that looks like a garage-door opener. She presses it. The car's back door pops open, framing Ruger like a picture. He whines and pants, dying to get down to business. But Suggett doesn't give the "come out" command right away - so Ruger waits, yelping with impatience, pawing gently at the side of the car to communicate his enthusiasm. The instant Suggett gives the OK, Ruger bolts to her side. She puts him on leash and commands him to "search. " His ears perk up, his neck hair stiffens, and he leads her down row after row of shiny cars, sniffing as if his life depended on it. In the end, the alarm is blamed on the wind or some nettlesome cats. But Ruger has earned an oatmeal raisin cookie.

A terrified reporter volunteers to feed him, and he takes it with the gentleness of an English nobleman sitting down to high tea. "When you're dealing with an animal that can hurt people, you have to make sure you have control over them, and that the dog understands that," Suggett said. "If they think they have control, they're going to test you. And if they test you at the wrong time, it could mean something serious. "You want them to be like a light switch. You turn them on and off when you want." Nordic is serious about ensuring that that is the case with its dogs. Dogs and handlers get the same sort of training police department canine units get - a 10-week course based on the respected Work Dogs International model, followed by weekly training sessions. Search. Bite. Hold. This may be part of the reason Nordic's canine unit has survived while at least two other local security companies offering canine patrols have gone out of business. When it comes to the dogs, quality control is up to the company.

While California has many requirements for private security companies, the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services no longer requires certification for protection dogs. It costs a lot to use them - in addition to the 10-week training (about $4,000), there's weekly training (about $1,500 a year), and the company must pay higher liability-insurance rates. But the costs are well worth it, handlers say. Suggett bought Ruger as an 8-week-old pup, and began training him immediately. They hit the beat together when he was 1 year old, and were soon tested. They got a call from an Anaheim apartment complex. The front door to one apartment was wide open. Neighbors feared it had been burglarized. Suggett stood at the darkened door with Ruger. She called the warning: "Security! Canine! You have five seconds to make yourself known or we will use the dog to find you!" No response. She led Ruger into the apartment, her firearm and flashlight at the ready. There was no one in the living room or kitchen - but she was faced with six closed doors. "I'm like, `Oh my God,' " Suggett said. "So I had to rely on his nose to tell me what was behind every door." She gave Ruger the command to search. He sniffed at the door cracks. Nothing at the first. Or second. Or third, fourth or fifth. But at the sixth, "all his hair went up," she said. "I knew there was someone in that room." She flung the door open and called another warning. Ruger dashed straight to the bed and barked his fearsome bark. From there came a voice: "I give up! Call off the dog!" Under the bed was a person with a knife, Suggett said - an ex-roommate who broke into the apartment to get his things. He was intoxicated. "I was shaking in my shoes, but Ruger showed no signs of fear," Suggett said. "That's what makes dogs so good. They don't really have a concept of death, of what a weapon is or what it can do. "The nice thing about a dog in law enforcement is you can use them on a level of deadly force, like you can with a gun, without getting the result of death. You can recall a dog. You can't recall a bullet."

Ruger has never had to bite anyone. His foreboding bark, precisely on command, has been enough to break up fights, disperse crowds and keep young hoodlums at bay when Suggett was cornered against a chain-link fence with nowhere to escape. "Even though I'm armed with a baton, pepper spray and firearm, I depend most on my dog," she said. "I have more confidence in him than in any tool on my belt." The people who hire security companies feel much the same way. "It seems like people take a step backward and show a little more respect when they see the guard with the dog," said Eva Mason, manager of Newport Crest Homeowners Association in Newport Beach, which has been using Nordic for about a year. And the dogs are great with kids, said Gina Roberts at Laguna Serrano in Laguna Niguel, where Nordic has been used for almost five years. "Everybody loves those dogs," she said.

April 3, 2000
Byline: Credit: TERI SFORZA
The Orange County Register

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		A LIVE WEAPON A BITE OUT OF CRIME NEWS FOCUS: Firm's private canine patrols are expensive but effective. Meet Ruger. German shepherd. Named after the gun. Understands foreign words for "search" and "bite" and "hold." Barely two hours into their 10-hour graveyard shift, a call crackles over the radio for Ruger and handler Erin Suggett: The alarms are blaring at the Lincoln-Mercury dealership on Beach Boulevard. Suggett smiles at the weapon wagging its tail in her back seat. "Ready to catch some bad guys? " she teases, and it's like a cattle prod applied to wet skin: Ruger leaps to his feet, barks ferociously and paces like a hungry tiger. "I get him a little juiced before we go on a call," Suggett explains. An average night with the local police canine unit? Not quite. Suggett and Ruger work for Nordic Security, a private company in Costa Mesa, and one of a very few offering canine patrols to those willing to pay. Private security is a booming, $90 billion business in the United States - which is more than double the amount spent on public police forces, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis. In California, the number of private security guards has leaped 22 percent over the past five years, to 176,121. And the growth is expected to continue, even though the crime rate is at its lowest level in more than 30 years. In this competitive climate, Nordic's canine patrols offer property owners a special kind of cachet that plain old uniformed officers in marked cars can't match. Suggett pulls up at the car dealership in Huntington Beach. On her utility belt, not far from her gun, is something that looks like a garage-door opener. She presses it. The car's back door pops open, framing Ruger like a picture. He whines and pants, dying to get down to business. But Suggett doesn't give the "come out" command right away - so Ruger waits, yelping with impatience, pawing gently at the side of the car to communicate his enthusiasm. The instant Suggett gives the OK, Ruger bolts to her side. She puts him on leash and commands him to "search. " His ears perk up, his neck hair stiffens, and he leads her down row after row of shiny cars, sniffing as if his life depended on it. In the end, the alarm is blamed on the wind or some nettlesome cats. But Ruger has earned an oatmeal raisin cookie. A terrified reporter volunteers to feed him, and he takes it with the gentleness of an English nobleman sitting down to high tea. "When you're dealing with an animal that can hurt people, you have to make sure you have control over them, and that the dog understands that," Suggett said. "If they think they have control, they're going to test you. And if they test you at the wrong time, it could mean something serious. "You want them to be like a light switch. You turn them on and off when you want." Nordic is serious about ensuring that that is the case with its dogs. Dogs and handlers get the same sort of training police department canine units get - a 10-week course based on the respected Work Dogs International model, followed by weekly training sessions. Search. Bite. Hold. This may be part of the reason Nordic's canine unit has survived while at least two other local security companies offering canine patrols have gone out of business. When it comes to the dogs, quality control is up to the company. While California has many requirements for private security companies, the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services no longer requires certification for protection dogs. It costs a lot to use them - in addition to the 10-week training (about $4,000), there's weekly training (about $1,500 a year), and the company must pay higher liability-insurance rates. But the costs are well worth it, handlers say. Suggett bought Ruger as an 8-week-old pup, and began training him immediately. They hit the beat together when he was 1 year old, and were soon tested. They got a call from an Anaheim apartment complex. The front door to one apartment was wide open. Neighbors feared it had been burglarized. Suggett stood at the darkened door with Ruger. She called the warning: "Security! Canine! You have five seconds to make yourself known or we will use the dog to find you!" No response. She led Ruger into the apartment, her firearm and flashlight at the ready. There was no one in the living room or kitchen - but she was faced with six closed doors. "I'm like, `Oh my God,' " Suggett said. "So I had to rely on his nose to tell me what was behind every door." She gave Ruger the command to search. He sniffed at the door cracks. Nothing at the first. Or second. Or third, fourth or fifth. But at the sixth, "all his hair went up," she said. "I knew there was someone in that room." She flung the door open and called another warning. Ruger dashed straight to the bed and barked his fearsome bark. From there came a voice: "I give up! Call off the dog!" Under the bed was a person with a knife, Suggett said - an ex-roommate who broke into the apartment to get his things. He was intoxicated. "I was shaking in my shoes, but Ruger showed no signs of fear," Suggett said. "That's what makes dogs so good. They don't really have a concept of death, of what a weapon is or what it can do. "The nice thing about a dog in law enforcement is you can use them on a level of deadly force, like you can with a gun, without getting the result of death. You can recall a dog. You can't recall a bullet." Ruger has never had to bite anyone. His foreboding bark, precisely on command, has been enough to break up fights, disperse crowds and keep young hoodlums at bay when Suggett was cornered against a chain-link fence with nowhere to escape. "Even though I'm armed with a baton, pepper spray and firearm, I depend most on my dog," she said. "I have more confidence in him than in any tool on my belt." The people who hire security companies feel much the same way. "It seems like people take a step backward and show a little more respect when they see the guard with the dog," said Eva Mason, manager of Newport Crest Homeowners Association in Newport Beach, which has been using Nordic for about a year. And the dogs are great with kids, said Gina Roberts at Laguna Serrano in Laguna Niguel, where Nordic has been used for almost five years. "Everybody loves those dogs," she said. April 3, 2000 Byline: Credit: TERI SFORZA The Orange County Register ### Home \| Company Info \| Services \| Contacts \| Promotions